(a) Field
The present invention generally relates a network printing system and a network printing program. In particular, the present invention is suitable to be used for a network printing system that is adapted to execute printing by transmitting print data from a mobile terminal to a printer by using a short-range wireless communication technology.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Recently, portable tablet devices and smart phones (hereinafter referred to as “mobile terminals”) have been widespread, so many clerks of stores are carrying the mobile terminals for performing the settlement process. That is, by placing printers in a plurality of locations in the store and connecting the mobile terminal to any printer, the settlement process can be performed and the receipt or the like can be issued from a printer of any location. Since the mobile terminal is capable of being carried, a wireless connection is preferable rather than a wired connection when the mobile terminal is connected to the printer.
Here, it is required to use a printer, which is not used (or occupied), for the settlement to reduce the customer's waiting time at the time of settlement. That is, the printer to be used when the clerk to issue the receipt may be different for each settlement. Therefore, the mobile terminal carried by each clerk does not need to always establish a connection with the same printer. Accordingly, it is required that the clerk can connect his or her own mobile terminal to a desired printer as necessary.
In accordance with such a demand, the conventional technology displays an available printer list on a display screen of the mobile terminal and selects a printer that the user wants to use in the list, thereby establishing a communication between the selected printer and the mobile terminal. According to this technique, the user can freely select the printer that the user wants to use.
However, simply displaying the available printer list on the mobile terminal cannot provide information about where printers of the available printer list are installed. For example, if a plurality of printers of the same model are installed side by side, it is not clear which printer outputs the receipt when a certain printer is selected from the available printer list.
Another conventional technology exchanges information between the mobile terminal and the printer by NFC (Near Field Communication) communication, thereby establishing the communication between the mobile terminal and the printer (for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-241114). Because the communication distance of NFC is less than 10 cm, it is necessary to place the mobile terminal physically close to a desired printer for the printing. Therefore, the technology for establishing the communication using NFC can clarify that the user wants to communicate with which printer.
In a system described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-241114, only one printer capable of NFC communication (hereinafter referred to as “a NFC compatible printer”) is provided. The other printers are connected on the NFC compatible printer via the network. Therefore, when printing is executed on the printer other than the NFC compatible printer according to an instruction from the mobile terminal, it is necessary to send print data to the other printer through the NFC compatible printer. In this case, if the printers connected to the network are the same model, it is not clear that the printing is executed by which printer on the network when the mobile terminal selects a certain printer.
In Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-241114, if all of the printers connected to the network are replaced with the NFC compatible printers, it may be clear that the mobile terminal communicates with which printer. However, in this case, the following problem can occur. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-241114 discloses that the printer stores model IDs (usage IDs) of the mobile terminals on which the communication is permitted in order to restrict the mobile terminals that can use the printer. The printer determines whether the mobile terminal is permitted based on the model ID when performing the NFC communication. In this case, when all of the printers disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-241114 are replaced with the NFC compatible printers, it is necessary to store the model IDs of the mobile terminals in each of printers. Therefore, there is a problem that it takes a lot of time to store the model IDs in all of the printers.
In particular, it may be a problem if the mobile terminal used by the clerk in the store is stolen. In this case, the model ID of the stolen mobile terminal is stored as the usage ID of the communication enabled mobile terminal in each printer. Therefore, in order to disable the stolen mobile terminal, settings for the model IDs of the mobile terminals stored in each printer must be changed. It may also be a problem if the clerks are rearranged or recruited. In order to alter the setting of which printer is permitted to communicate with which mobile terminal, the settings for the model IDs of the mobile terminals stored in each printer must be changed. Such change of the settings would considerably increase the workload.